Peaches, Coconuts and Kiwi
by YukiKyo
Summary: Its required that nurses travel overseas to assist the medical staff so they can perform better. Carolyn is a nurse and she's not happy being stuck with so many men. She does her duty and tries not to fall in love for men are lechers. Leckie/OC/Sidney


**Authors Note: Trying something new. The story's probably a bit AU. I have a bunch of ideas written down for plotting and such so we'll see how far it goes. I'm trying a different style of writing. I usually don't write in first person but I wanted to try it this time. First person present I think. For some reason its easier to do with original characters then with canon.I'm not sure how accurate my history is as I'm not very familiar with the Pacific Theater circuit of World War II, or the war in general. But fear not it won't be grossly Out of Character, I'm not that stupid. I'm just a perfectionist when it comes to facts in my story and I want to get it right. Feel free to tell me if I've blundered anywhere and I'll fix it. It's gonna be swell.**

**Disclaimer: HBO owns The Pacific and all its characters, I only own my OC.  
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**Enjoy and please review!**

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The heads of some division of the United States military thought it'd be a swell idea to send a bunch of nurses along with the Marines to assist the medical staff. They were aiming for two things to happen, one was for the morale of the troops to improve and two was for the medics to be better staffed. I want to say that I'm thrilled about going on a ship full of young men to some tropical island thousands of miles away but then I would be lying to myself. I don't understand why they can't keep us here where we're safe. That's not just safe from the enemy but safe from the marines who nearly jump at the sight of a woman and would do almost anything to get a little action.

Men irritate me to no end. Most if not all of them seemed to be focused on one thing, getting girls. I hear catcalls and wolf howls whenever one of the nurses enters the game room or goes outside to the yard. They come from the guys who are well enough to get around and are almost out the door. A very small part of me can't blame them for being what they are, which is men, and not having the company of a woman for a very long time because they have been overseas is part of it but I just don't understand why they can't keep it to themselves. Is it really that hard to keep your mouth shut when you see a pretty girl? We don't seem to have any problems doing it so neither should guys. I have only met a few men who have had the decency when with a group of guys to treat a lady with any respect. It seems like more and more these days men don't care what they say, or if they do they don't show it. When guys are alone it's a whole different story, they treat you as if you're they only girl left alive. It's as if they have two separate channels, one for friends and one for loved ones. It's quite frustrating if you ask me.

My father told me once that he used to do the same when he was with a group of friends when he was young. He told me that he only did it a few times because it made him feel uncomfortable. He stopped for good when he got slapped for it. Since then he's been the respectable gentleman I wish every guy would be. The next time some guy howls at me I'll have to try giving them a slap, see if that wakes them up. I think the problem with our men is that they're too cocky. They think they can get whatever they want whenever they want. I wish more girls would stand up for themselves if they don't want a guy, or maybe they do. I can't say for sure, but I do know that all this gives me a headache. It's one of the reasons I don't bother with guys and just focus on my work.

We'll be boarding the ship tomorrow and it feels like I still have so much left to do. Not only do I have to pack my personal things but I have to go over the check list to make sure everything been loaded onto the ship. If by some chance we missed something I'll have to add it to the list and hope it gets put on the ship. The men on the ship should do a check to make sure everything is on before we leave, I can only hope I don't have to add anything else to the list. I also have to make sure that the girl who is replacing me won't have a panic attack once I'm gone. Not all of us are shipping out, but a good portion, just over half. Of those we've only been able to fill a quarter of the openings. Most of the young women are already working, those that are left are just a bit too young to work or are housewives. We've managed to get a few housewives but they come only when they can. We have some that are just old enough to work, but aren't yet old enough to take on the full responsibilities of a nurse. I've seen girls as young as thirteen coming around to do what they can. Everyone wants to do their part even the younger kids. They all want to make sure the war ends as soon as it can so are doing whatever they can to help it even if it means washing bed pans and serving food to men that may not be all there. Quite a job for these young kids, but they are learning life skills and they are brave I have to give them that.

One of the few reasons I'm glad to leave is so I don't have to deal with this mess. The task of trying to find enough help and making sure the help sticks around. That's one headache I don't need to deal with. I pack my things into a United States Marine Core issued sack with a slight shake of my head. Why we can't have something that says that we're medical staff on it is beyond me. Especially since the Red Cross insignia under the USMC logo is barely visible. But I suppose since its just for clothes and other personal items it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that the medical supplies are marked correctly.

My things are packed and I head for the nurses station to check the supply list to see if the meds and what not have all been put on the ship, and to see if we have enough supplies. We're leaving early tomorrow seven o'clock in the morning so there isn't much time to fix any mistakes if there are a lot of them. I see the young woman who's' going to be my replacement. She's about my age maybe a year younger, sixteen, seventeen at most. I was surprised that she hadn't already worked somewhere else when she was hired. I go over to her with a slight smile on my face. "you'll do fine." I reassure her, knowing that she was going to be more then just fine as I had been the one to train her. She could do everything nurses could do as well as a small bit of the prep work for the doctors. She was a valuable asset to the staff and they were grateful I had taught her so much in such a short amount of time. I wish she was able to come with us but I know that she'll be needed more here then wherever I'm going. She gave me a sheepish smile in return. "Thanks. I'm going to finish my rounds." She said excusing herself.

I walked quickly to the desk to check the log before going to bed. It was already getting late and I would have to wake up early tomorrow if I wanted to catch the bead. Or maybe I could just sleep in and miss it, after all they had four more nurses going over so what difference would it make if I wasn't here. Who was fooling? They would barely function without me. I'm not the head nurse or anything for I'm too young for that but I'm the type of person to take control when it needs to be taken. I'm not afraid to take responsibility for my actions. I'm good at what I do and I take pride in my work.

I checked over the packing list mumbling aloud the supplies that were on the ship and making sure there was enough. "Crap, we could use more bandages." I muttered. A lot of people have said that I should have born a boy. My mother thought I was until I came out. The reason I act like such a tomboy is because I grew up with two older brothers, one who's seven years older then me and the other who is four. I played with them most of the time until I went to school and made friends my own and gender. I picked up my brothers mannerisms and some of their more boyish habits. I like the way I am, because of who I am I don't let anyone push me around, I stick up for myself and my friends. I may be a bit of a hard-ass on the outside but on the inside I really am a nice person.

I sighed and put the clipboard down but not before putting in an order for another case of bandages. If I've learned anything from my time working here its that you can never have enough bandages. There would be a final check of the items before we left so that there would be enough time to load what was missed. My final responsibility was done for the night so I headed back to my room. As I tried to get to sleep I felt part of me would miss that place for although guys were mostly pigs, these guys had been through hell and were mostly all right. Most of them were respectable but I figured that's only because of what they've been through. But I'll never really know for I never got to close to any of them. I've had enough of men for a while, now its time to focus on my job, saving lives.

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**Authors Note: Sorry it was so long! I wrote it out and it was just over three pages on paper, but I added a few things when I typed it up. I'm really into this story. And this is no Mary-Sue, she has her flaws, oh does she have flaws I'm just developing character I'm sorry if some of it seemed contradictory, I added a bunch of stuff that I hadn't written down. Feel free to correct me after all that's what reviews are for. =D**


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